In my very humble opinion, this is perhaps the finest hour of television ever created. Bruce McGill steals the show, for sure, but I think this episode is a case of everything coming together to be so much greater than the sum of it's parts.
The story is complex (for a meat-head such as myself) and has a 'Usual Suspects' level twist. The script is so tight, never laboring any point too much or rushing to fill in holes, giving every character something appropriate to do (except maybe Trudy) but not losing focus on Bruce's character. I find myself quoting the dialogue all the time - similar to 'The Shining.' Superb casting - especially Bruce, and don't forget Little Richard in his amazing cameo and Strathairn is perfect as the spooked ex-partner - not giving away too much. All of the main cast is spot on - an ensemble in perfect sync.
The directing is as good as it ever got. Jim Johnston - you should be directing anything you want, you deserve so much more credit than you get for steering this amazing ship. My god - the music picks - couldn't get any better - "Baba O Riley," "I Fought the Law" (a Capella) and the show stealing "Brothers in Arms." Yan Hammer's best score ever - the piece at the stilt houses - scoring at it's finest.
Editing and cinematography tie this perfect package together. The cuts never feel forced - flow beautifully and emphasize the precise emotional beats - the quick action of the 'hit at the ocean club' could easily have been confusing or lacked impact - it does neither. And the slow and beautiful afternoon in stiltsville is a perfectly laconic yet tense build up to what is a false episode climax. An episode that exemplifies everything about the show, without straying off the path - just out where the busses don't run.Again - everyone who helped shape and create this episode, from Yerkovitch and Mann to the craft services, extras and interns, deserve much more credit and appreciation than I suspect they've been given! I'm your biggest fan.

This one had everything that made Miami Vice great. Still my favorite episode. It is so loaded, that I only watch it once a year or less, because I want to feel like I am watching it for the first time. How Bruce McGill didn't get at least an Emmy nomination is a mystery worthy of it's own episode.

This episode is deep! Almost me had me crying.

Gosh. I miss those days when things were cool. You couldn't buy cool. You were either Sonny & Crockett cool or you weren't. Brothers in Arms with the Ferrari shots!!?? Fuggadeboutit!!! Best Miami Vice ending.

From the title on, this disturbing episode uses euphemisms for mental illness. Tubbs provides the title when he says Weldon is "out there where the buses don't run," meaning crazy. Later, Crockett says Weldon has "left his groceries at the store" (or words to that effect), again referring to the former cop's instability. How colorful we are with our ways to talk about mental illness. Only near the end, when the guys see that Weldon has destroyed his beloved computer (how quaint was that floppy disk?) does Tubbs make a serious comment about mental illness, when he asks if maybe there's something they could do for him, given that, as disturbed as he was, he'd helped them crack a case. Even then, Crockett reminds Tubbs how foolish it is to think of getting help for a mentally ill cop, sarcastically suggesting they send him to the crazy ex-cop retirement home. It's sad and ironic that men who put themselves in harm's way for some ideal of good -- whether pursuing drug dealers in 1980s Miami or El Qaida in 2009 Afghanistan -- fall hardest and seem to have no nets available. Except the net provided by their brothers in arms.